Market Recap: Wednesday, April 21

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Stocks rose on Wednesday and looked to rise for the first time in three sessions. The S&P 500 and Dow each reversed earlier losses to trade higher. The Nasdaq also rose even as shares of Netflix weighed on the index. Netflix sank 8% after the company reported first-quarter subscriber growth that sharply missed expectations, suggesting the boost the tech company received while people were at home during the pandemic was rapidly unwinding. Anastasia Amoroso, Head of Cross-Asset Thematic Strategy at J.P. Morgan Private Bank and Riverfront Investment Head of Global Strategy, Doug Sandler, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss.

Video transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SEANA SMITH: Around 2 and 1/2 minutes until the closing bell. We want to bring in our panel. We have Anastasia Amoroso, Head of Cross-Asset Thematic Strategy at JP Morgan Private Bank. We're also joined by Doug Sandler, Head of Global Strategy at RiverFront Investment. But first, let's go over to Emily McCormick for a closer look at some of these movers here into the close. Emily.

EMILY MCCORMICK: Well, Seana, the three major stock indexes are just moments away from closing higher for the first time in three days, and that is coming after the S&P 500 and Dow fell from record highs that they logged last week on Monday and Tuesday this week. Now taking a look at the stock indexes, we have gains today being led by the NASDAQ. That's now up more than 1%, extending those gains from afternoon trading.

And then taking a look at the S&P 500, actually seeing a bit of a rotation back into cyclicals there. We have materials, energy, and industrials all outperforming. So again, that rotation back to cyclicals, although with the NASDAQ still seeing some tech strength there as well.

Now specifically for energy, I do want to highlight that both Chevron and Exxon Mobil, the oil majors, are up more than 1% today, even after crude oil futures fell for a second straight session. And that was after the Energy Information Administration reported that US commercial crude oil inventories unexpectedly rose last week by about 600,000 barrels, whereas a slight decline had been expected. So a bit of a supply and demand mismatch concerns driving oil prices down. But again, still seeing those energy stocks on the rise.

And then similarly, we are seeing cyclical travel names also on the rise today. That includes cruise lines and airlines. We did have both JetBlue and American Airlines this morning announcing service expansions to additional cities today, so that's helping those travel-related names. And then also, we did get an upgrade from Goldman Sachs for shares of Norwegian Cruise Line holdings, and the firm also increased its price targets on shares of Carnival and Royal Caribbean, again, citing pent-up demand there. So another bit higher for those travel names.